


Private Property

by hdctbpal



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Dubious Consent, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-21
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-08-23 18:06:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8337541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hdctbpal/pseuds/hdctbpal
Summary: Shepard suffers her most humiliating defeat.





	1. Chapter 1

"What is he doing now?" Thane's voice said in Shepard's ear.

"Talking to a couple of mercs," Shepard said, keeping her voice down.

Below her, the target said, "I feel like I'm being watched."

His krogan bodyguard said, "You're running for office. Lots of people watch you."

"I don't mean that," Talid said. "It's like someone's following me."

"Damn," Shepard said. "Maybe he saw Kolyat."

"Possible," Thane said. "There are obstructions ahead. I'll try to go around. Don't lose him."

Shepard tapped her earpiece once to mute her microphone. She waited until Talid and his bodyguard moved on, then followed them on the Keeper catwalk above. She kept to the shadows and crouched slightly as she walked, trying to keep her footsteps as quiet as possible.

Talid turned a corner. Unfortunately, the catwalk didn't continue in that direction, but ended at a hatch. Shepard pressed the hatch control, hoping the hatch would open quietly. It did. She stepped through.

She was in an enclosed area. It was darker here, but she could make out stacks of crates and shelves piled with boxes. Apparently it was a storage room for one of the storefronts that faced the second-story balcony.

The important thing was, there was another hatch around a corner and to her right, leading in the same direction Talid had gone. She started toward it -

The man had been crouching in the shadows, facing away from her - he was arranging boxes on one of the shelves - and he wore drab tan coveralls that blended in with the beige-painted bulkheads. He was quick. By the time she saw him, he was blocking her path.

"Hey," he said, "who are you? What are you doing back here?"

Shepard had not expected to run into anyone up here, and her mind was elsewhere. "Just passing through," she said. "Don't mind me." She started to step around him.

Her armor was not made for agility, and he easily stepped into her way again. "You're not going anywhere until you tell me what you're doing back here," he said. Shepard saw now that he was just a kid, maybe half her age, but unusually self-assured. His face, his voice, and his body language all said he was supposed to be here, and he knew she wasn't.

"Look, kid, I really don't have time for this," she said. She started to shove past him.

Behind the kid and off to the left was an open doorway that presumably led to the front of the store. From somewhere beyond the doorway a krogan voice suddenly roared, "Human! What's going on back there?"

The kid stepped back, taking care to stay between Shepard and the exit hatch, and yelled back, "Sorry, boss. Just listening to a talk show."

"Varren shit. I don't pay you to jerk off with your pals," the voice said, less menacing now but still booming through the enclosed space and making them wince. "Get back to work."

"You got it, boss," the kid yelled. He folded his arms. "One last time," he said, keeping his voice low, "what are you doing back here?"

Shepard wished she had just punched out this mouthy bastard as soon as she saw him, but now there was no sure way she could take him down silently, especially with his boss alerted. If she drew her pistol and clubbed him with it, he might yell first, and she might not catch his body before it hit the floor. Even if she got him into a chokehold, he might knock a crate over before he passed out. He had a wiry body that reminded her of Mouse, and the quick way he moved told her he would be very hard to hold on to, especially by someone wearing armor as she was.

"All right, look," she said, also careful to keep her voice down. "I'm with Citadel Health and Safety. We've had some reports of vermin in these storage areas." Too late, Shepard realized this kid might be a former duct rat, and her words might well come across as a less than subtle insult.

The kid caught the look of doubt on her face, and smirked. "Bullshit," he said.

Shepard's mouth dropped open slightly. She told the occasional white lie in the line of duty, and she'd been caught before, but she wasn't used to having people call her out quite so bluntly. "I - okay. That's just my cover. I'm a Spectre."

His smirk grew wider. "Double bullshit," he said.

"It's true," she insisted. Actually, it wasn't - she'd told the Council to go to hell. Not that it would matter now. She glanced uneasily at the hatch. How far had Talid gone while she stood here arguing?

He shook his head with a pitying look, like a parent catching a child in an unusually foolish lie, and she felt her face and ears heating. Her embarrassment at her own reaction made her blush even harder. He grinned at her. "You're not C-Sec or Alliance, and you don't have any gang markings. I think you're a freelancer between jobs, hoping to scavenge a few credits."

"What?" Her voice rose slightly in disbelief, and both of them flinched in anticipation of another bellow from the krogan shopkeeper, but there was none. She glanced at the doorway and then back at the kid. "I don't care about the junk in here," she hissed. She had a thought, and tapped the insignia on the left side of her chestplate. "Would a thief be wearing N7 armor?"

He grinned. "Why not? We sell suits of it up front."

She clenched her fists in frustration. "All right. Fine. I'm following someone, and if I don't keep up with him, someone might shoot him. Okay?"

That finally reached him, she saw with satisfaction. "Oh," he said.

"Yes," she said. "So if you don't mind - "

He said, "In that case, I'm calling C-Sec."

Shepard thought quickly. Bailey was the only one who knew she and Thane were here. If the kid called C-Sec, some beat cop would show up, and she could guess what he would say. "Sure. Another friend of the chief. I meet a lot of 'em in this job."

And the arrival of C-Sec would scare Kolyat away. He wouldn't kill Talid today, but he would try again. This time, she and Thane knew when and where he planned to strike, and that gave them a chance to stop him without loss of life. Next time, they might have no such chance.

Shepard sighed. "All right, look, kid - what's your name, anyway?"

"Jim."

"Okay, Jim - "

"And you are?"

"I'm - " she started to say "Shepard", but at the last instant something made her say, "Lauren."

"Lauren." He said it in a way that somehow made it sound as if she had never heard it before. "Nice."

"Thank you," she said. "So, Jim...no cops, okay?"

The kid grinned. It was just as he thought. He had her!

"All right," he said. "I won't call them. If..."

She might have known. "How much do you want?" she said, trying to keep the anger out of her voice. Commander Shepard, Heroine of the Blitz, first human Spectre, Savior of the Citadel, shaken down by a goddamn kid.

"I don't want credits."

She frowned. "What, then?"

He reached to her face and ran his fingers through her red hair, brushing it away from her ear. Belatedly, she jerked her head away. "What are you - oh no. No."

"Yes," he said, and reached for her face again. She wanted to break his arm, but then she heard Thane's voice in her ear. "Shepard. Where are you?"

Automatically Shepard's hand went to her left ear and tapped her earpiece. "I'm in a storeroom. Above the T-junction with the, uh, pawn shop on the corner." As she talked, Jim combed his fingers through her hair again, raking his fingernails lightly over her scalp and then down the back of her neck. Distracted, she let him do it, but she gave him an angry look. He just grinned.

She thought Thane was going to say they had lost Talid. To her surprise, he said, "He's right below you."

"What's he doing?" she said. Jim traced the tips of his fingers down the side of her neck and she shuddered, feeling goosebumps rise all over her body. She didn't mean to, but she couldn't help it; that was one of her weak spots.

"Someone stopped him for an autograph," Thane said. "Now there's a line. It seems he's popular here."

"Um," she said. Jim was cupping her jaw in both hands, his thumbs lightly stroking her cheeks and his fingers massaging her neck. She reached up with her free hand and tried to push one of his arms away.

"Stay put," Thane said. "I'll tell you when he moves."

"Copy that," she said. Her voice sounded rusty. She tapped her earpiece again, then took hold of Jim's wrists. "Look - kid - "

He drew her face to his and kissed her. It took her a moment to react. Her green eyes opened wide and she let out a surprised squeak and pushed him back. Then she slapped him across the face. Not too hard - with her augmented strength, she had to be careful about things like that - but enough to turn his head, and with her gauntlet on, it had to hurt.

His hand reached up to rub the red mark on his face, then stopped. He grinned at her, as if she'd given something away. "Your hand okay?"

She glanced at the doorway again. Luckily, the krogan shopkeeper either hadn't heard the noise or had ignored it. She felt slightly foolish, but she had reacted on instinct. "Yeah," she said, rubbing her hand. "Don't do that, Jimmy."

To her surprise, he took her face in his hands again. She grabbed his wrists again, harder this time. "Jim - "

"I'll do it all I like," he said, but his voice was amused rather than threatening. "That's our deal, remember?"

She frowned at him, but loosened her grip slightly. "What deal?"

"I don't call C-Sec, and you do as I say."

Her mouth opened slightly and it took a moment to find her voice. "No."

He shrugged. "It's either that or the cops. Up to you, Lauren."

She thought about it, but she already knew she had no choice. She tried one last time. "I don't have time to explain it, but if you call C-Sec, a friend of mine might lose his son. If that happens, I swear to God I will find you. And you better hope I find you before he does."

The anger in her voice was genuine, but he either didn't believe her or didn't care. "Yes or no, Lauren?"

She ground her teeth. "Yes," she hissed finally.

He gave her a small smile that unsettled her more than his usual cocky smirk. "Okay, then," he said, his voice soft. He drew her face close again and pressed his lips to hers. He closed his eyes - she noticed, as he did so, that he had clear brown eyes. She closed her eyes too, because it felt strange to keep them open as they kissed, but she kept her lips firmly pressed together.

At least at first. At his whispered suggestion, she reluctantly opened her mouth and allowed his tongue inside. He moaned deeply, the sound trapped inside their joined mouths, and caressed her tongue with his. His arms went around her and he held her close, despite her bulky armor. He was stronger than he looked. One hand squeezed and rubbed the back of her neck. The other rested on the small of her back, pressing her body into his. God, even through her armor she could feel how hard he was. And big, if she was any judge.

At first she didn't respond to the embrace. Then her hands came up and took hold of his waist. That made her feel more in control; if he went too far, she could push him away.

The kissing went on for a long time. The room was warm and the air was still, and with the warmth of his body adding to hers, she could feel pinpricks all over as she began to sweat. The only sound in the dark room was their mingled heavy breathing and the occasional quiet moan from Jim as he enjoyed her mouth. It helped that he was a good kisser. He smelled clean and his mouth tasted faintly of mint. His face was a bit sandpapery, but she preferred that to clean-shaven or hairy. At least he wasn't too young to have a beard, she thought wryly.

His hands moved slowly over her body, exploring, caressing, though she couldn't feel much through her armor. At last his hands slid up her body to her neck and then into her hair again, and without thinking she let out a tiny sound of her own pleasure.

Thane's voice broke in on them. "He has an audience now. Looks like he's warming up to a speech." 

She broke the kiss and caught her breath and tapped her earpiece. "Great," she said. She was slightly out of breath. To her surprise, she realized she was irritated not by Thane's words, but by the interruption.

Jim leaned forward and rested his head on her right shoulder and began kissing his way slowly up the right side of her long slim neck. Obviously he had paid attention to what she liked. His kisses were damp but not wet, and his slow breathing was warm on her flushed skin. Unconsciously, she tilted her head away from him to expose more of her neck.

Thane said, "At least Kolyat won't move on him in this crowd."

Jim's tongue flicked her ear to brush a few strands of red hair out of the way, then he began nibbling at her ear. She took in a sharp breath and let it out with an "Ooh - " before she caught herself.

"I didn't copy that. Say again."

She swallowed and said, "Nothing." Her voice was a bit hoarse. She cleared her throat, trying not to make too much noise. "Tell me when he's done. There are people up here."

"Understood."

She tapped her earpiece and turned her face to his and said, "Jim - "

He kissed her again. She accepted the kiss, but then she put her hands on his shoulders and gently pushed him back. "Okay," she said. "You got what you wanted. Now let me go."

He ran the tips of his fingers lightly up her arms - again, she found herself thinking about how that would feel without her armor on - and took hold of her shoulders. "I will. Just not yet."

She rolled her eyes, but let him pull her in close again. He kissed her neck some more, this time on the left side, and then whispered something in her ear. Her jaw dropped slightly - he seemed to do that to her a lot - and she said, "In your dreams."

"Nope." He kissed her neck. "On your knees, please."

"You pig," she said. "And to think I was starting to like you."

"Don't worry, I'll return the favor."

"Yeah?" she said. "Return it now, then."

He grinned. "I would if we had time to get your armor off," he said. "But I will."

"I don't care," she said, though she wondered if that were true. She enjoyed being licked more than anything else, and no one had done it for since she'd woken up three months ago. And this kid seemed like he'd be good at it. With some regret, she shoved the thought aside. There wasn't going to be a next time, anyway.

On the other hand...

"Look," she said. She slipped her arms around him and held him close and ran her hand through his hair. It was cropped close to his head, hardly longer than his facial stubble, but he wasn't balding. "Look. Just let me go, and we'll meet up later and I'll do whatever you want. Okay?" She squeezed him. "I promise you can trust me."

He kissed her again, and she kissed back. "I believe you," he said.

She gave him a beautiful sunny smile and relaxed. "Okay, then." Maybe she even would -

"But," he said, "I'd rather be safe than sorry."

She let go of him. "I see. So you don't trust me."

He grinned and took her chin in his hand and gently held her face up to meet his gaze. "Yes or no, Lauren?"

"Get fucked."

He smiled fondly. "Sweet and spicy both. I really don't want to call C-Sec on you."

"You do and I'll fucking kill you," she said. But they both knew she was saying it because she couldn't do it.

Their eyes met and locked for several long moments. His said he was willing to wait for as long as it took. Hers flicked away, to the exit hatch behind him, only a few feet away. She thought about Thane, who was out there, depending on her. For a moment she hoped he would call and get her out of this, but she realized Jim wasn't going to let her go until he had what he wanted. If she didn't finish - with what, she still refused to think about - in time...

She growled, deep in her throat, as she yielded. "Fine. I'll give you a handjob. But that's it."

But he said, "Not with those gloves on."

She glanced down at her right gauntlet as she unthinkingly closed and opened her fist. Her armor was designed to be put on quickly, and to stay on. It would take her at least a minute to remove either glove. "I have some medi-gel..." she said, but then stopped. Medi-gel was greasy, which was the idea, but she might need her gun in the very near future, and it wouldn't help if her gloves were too slippery to hold on to it. 

"They'll still chafe," he said. "Plus, it'll be messy. This is the only way."

She let out a deep sigh. "The things I do for this fucking job," she said. Slowly, she sank into a crouch.

"Nope. On your knees, please."

She glared up at him. "Keep pushing me, Jimmy boy," she said, even as she began stroking him through the front of his pants to get him ready. But then she thought better of it. If seeing her on her knees got him through this faster... "Fine," she said. The hardened ceramic of her left kneepad met the deck with a clack. She winced at the noise and put her right knee down more carefully.

She could tolerate giving blowjobs, but she preferred to have the man on his back with her on all fours over him. That way she could control the pace, and she didn't feel quite so demeaned. Just get through it, she told herself. Afterward, you can take care of this bastard at leisure.

She pulled down his zipper, but quickly saw that wasn't enough to get his cock out. She unbuttoned his fly, then took hold of his pants and underwear and pulled them down to his ankles. At least that way, if someone walked in on them, he'd be embarrassed too. His cock sprang free, already hard and taut, and bounced lightly off her cheekbone, leaving behind a tiny smear of pre-cum.

She was right. He was big. And he was shaved, which made him seem even bigger. At least he looked and smelled clean.

She said, "There is no way I can take all this. Just so we're clear."

He ran his fingers through her hair. "It's okay. Just do your best."

She did. In fact, she decided, with a sudden burst of vengeful mischief, to give him the best blowjob of his life. He would never have another one from her, and he would never have another one as good. Let him search the galaxy trying to find it. Not that he would. He would live out his life in the Wards, pining for her, while she went free among the stars. That might be punishment enough.

Better yet, after she was long gone, he would find out who she was, and what a chance he had let slip through his fingers. He had a good touch, and she had almost enjoyed things up to this point. If he hadn't been so greedy, she might have been open to seeing him again.

He might tell people what she had done with him, but who would believe it? Commander Shepard, taking a break from saving the galaxy to pleasure a stock boy? The hungriest tabloid wouldn't pay five credits for such a story.

So she put every bit of her considerable skill into it. She licked her full pink lips to wet them and slid them over the head of his cock and down the shaft as far as she could go, about two-thirds of the way, careful not to let him feel even a hint of her teeth. All the while, she kept her eyes open wide and looked up at him, showing white crescents under the green irises.

"You are beautiful," he said. She searched his face for mockery, but didn't see it - if anything, he looked enraptured.

"Mm-hmmm," she said, putting a smile into her muffled voice. She made little humming and moaning sounds deep in her throat, as if she were enjoying a delicious treat. Her hand took hold of his shaft at the base, where her mouth couldn't reach anyway. Gently, she stroked and squeezed him in time with her sucking. She bobbed her face up and down and twisted it this way and that. Her hair danced around her face, partly obscuring it; a few red strands clung to her face, which was sticky with pre-cum and sweat and drool.

"God," he exhaled. He traced his fingernails over her scalp and she moaned. "You are incredible, Lauren."

She flushed a little - given what she was doing, she wasn't quite sure whether to take that as a compliment, but she said, "Mm-hmmm," and kept sucking.

"We're gonna do this again, you know," he said.

Without thinking, she shook her head slightly, still keeping her eyes on his, and said, "Hm-mm."

He brushed a few strands of her hair out of her face. "Mm-hm. And so much more."

Her mouth released his cock with a tiny "pop" and she said, "That's so not gonna happen." She was slightly out of breath. Her hand continued to grip the base of his cock and pump slowly and evenly. She supposed she shouldn't argue with him, but really -

She should have looked silly, kneeling before him and arguing with him even as she continued tugging at his cock, a tiny strand of saliva and pre-cum joining her gasping mouth to its glistening tip. But she didn't. He stroked the back of her neck and said, "We'll see."

She shrugged, deciding not to argue, and slipped her mouth back over his cock and resumed sucking. "Hmmm," she said, as if she were thinking about it.

She worked up as much saliva as she could and slathered it on him with her tongue. She felt thick veins twisting under his skin; her tongue followed them and she wondered how they would feel inside her. Then she pulled back, at the same time sucking as if desperate to keep him in her mouth. Her cheeks flexed inward and her lips made a tight seal around his cock, leaving behind a glistening coating of drool. She kept going until just the head was in her mouth, then paused, watched him with a hint of a teasing smile around her green eyes for a long moment, then sank her mouth back onto him again.

"Oh, God," he groaned, his voice just above a whisper. "Almost there, sweetie."

She hated being called that. "Mm-hmmm," she said. She took him in as deep as she could. Her mouth met her hand and she uncurled her index finger and then her middle finger to make room, until she gagged slightly and tears brimmed in her eyes. "Mmmm..."

Finally, she felt him approaching the edge. "Oh, God," he said again. His hand slipped away from her neck, tousling her hair as it went. She didn't even notice. Her eyes were on his lower abdomen, and her hair had tumbled into her face; her head was filled with the sounds of her heavy breathing and the thumping of her heart.

She pulled back again, but kept him in her mouth. She glanced up, just as she felt his body go rigid -

\- and looked into a faint luminescent cone that emanated downward from his omni-tool and encircled her. It took her a moment to realize what it was. Her eyes went very wide and she said, "Mmmm!" and tried to withdraw her mouth from his cock, but now his hand was on the back of her neck again and it held her head firmly in place. Panicking, she put both hands flat against his thighs and began to struggle.

Then she felt his cock pulse and a thick gout of warm semen shot into the back of her throat. Later, she wished she had, somehow, done something else, but right then, all she could think of was to focus on her immediate problem - namely, to make sure no trace of what she had just done was visible on her face or chest or in her hair.

For several moments, that was plenty to keep her busy, as spurt after spurt of sticky cum filled her mouth. She held her breath and swallowed as quickly as she could, again and again, feeling the slimy stuff slide down her throat in gooey wads, sick with knowing that his omni-tool was recording every moment of this.

There was more cum than she had ever tried to take before - he must have saved up for a long time, or he really liked her, or both. At last he began to run down. She had almost managed to swallow all of it, when -

"Shepard," Thane's voice said in her ear. "He's winding down. Get ready to move." In the background she could hear people applauding - she could also hear them, faintly, through the bulkhead.

Automatically, she tried to reply, forgetting that her earpiece wasn't on and, more importantly, that she had a mouthful of cum. She choked and coughed semen up into her nose, causing it to jet out of her nostrils. Jim took a quick step back to free her mouth, and for a moment the head of his cock was joined to her face by a ribbon of drool and cum attached to her lower lip and by a smaller strand of cum that forked as it went into her nose. She fell forward onto all fours, gasping, drooling cum onto the metal deck.

"Human!" the krogan shouted.

Jim made a shushing motion at Shepard. She nodded and held a hand over her mouth, which was now a wet sticky mess, and fought to hold in her coughing. He yelled, "Sorry, boss. I swallowed wrong," trying to make his voice sound strangled.

"Shepard?" Thane's voice said. Quickly, she tapped her earpiece, and tried to say something, but all she managed was another fit of coughing. She shook her head and took a couple of deep ragged breaths, trying desperately to keep her airway clear. At last she managed to say, "I'm here," in a barely audible watery croak. A drop of semen escaped from the corner of her mouth and trickled down her chin.

"Are you all right?" Thane and Jim asked at the same time. She nodded, then remembered Thane couldn't see her. "Yeah," she said in a harsh whisper. "Be out in a minute." 

"Understood."

She tapped her earpiece off and pushed herself back up to her knees. She touched her omni-tool and called up her self-cam and looked at her face. "Jesus," she said. Her red hair was wild. Tears streamed from her reddened and swollen eyes, making her mascara run. Cum trickled from her nose and her lower face was spotted with stray drops of it. A large pearly glob of it nestled between her lower lip and her chin, glistening doubly in the lights of both their cameras. She wiped at it with the back of her hand, but only succeeded in smearing it across her mouth.

She looked like she'd just been face-fucked, but good. She sniffled, fighting back tears of shame and frustration.

"I'm sorry about that," he said. He actually sounded as if he meant it, but she didn't feel like looking up at him right then. She just nodded. She needed a -

"Here." He took a white handkerchief out of his pocket and unfolded it. Her eyes fastened on it. Yes, that was just what she needed. She reached for it.

He held it just out of reach. "One more thing," he said.

She sighed. "What?" Anything to get this over with.

He told her.

Automatically, she said, "I'm Command - wait, what? No."

"Just this one more thing and then you're done. I promise."

She wiped ineffectually at her face again as she thought about it. This was bad. He knew who she was. He could go straight to that bitch Khalisah - whatever her name was - with what he had already, and she would run it day and night. Or - her blood ran cold at the thought - what if he sold it to the Shadow Broker?

She thought about grabbing him by the balls and twisting until he handed over his omni-tool, but he would probably yell, and then his boss would come in and see this, and she didn't have time to deal with an angry krogan.

She didn't want to dig the hole any deeper, but then, it was plenty deep already. And, she reminded herself, if he called C-Sec, then the humiliation she had just suffered would all be for nothing. And he would probably publish the tape on top of it. If she played along a little more, she at least had a hope of keeping him quiet.

She sighed again. "Fine." She mumbled the words, her eyes on the deck.

"Louder, please. And look up at me."

She clenched her fists and bit her lip, hard. She forced herself to meet his gaze and spoke slowly and clearly, trying to keep the hatred out of her face and the tears out of her voice. "I'm Commander Shepard...and this is my favorite cock on the Citadel." She gave him the finger with both hands, one of them sticky with semen. It felt childish and stupid even as she did it, but she couldn't help it.

He smiled and turned off the omni-tool and pulled up his pants and then held out his right hand. Dazed, she allowed him to help her to her feet. He wiped her face clean with the handkerchief, careful to keep his left arm, with the omni-tool, away from her.

"I need that tape," she said.

"We'll talk about it," he said.

She was opening her mouth to argue when Thane called her again. "He's heading out."

She tapped her earpiece. "On my way," she said; she could say nothing else. She started toward the exit hatch, then turned back to Jim. "Look - Jim - don't show that to anyone. Not until we talk again. Okay?"

He pursed his lips, as if reluctant. Then he shrugged slightly. "Okay."

She lingered, reluctant to go until she was more sure of how things stood.

She wanted to say, "Show it to anyone and I'll kill you," but she suppressed the urge. So far, he'd shrugged off her threats. Besides, she wanted to kill him anyway. So she just said, "You promise?"

He beckoned her toward him. She stepped forward and they hugged again, though he was still careful to keep his omni-tool out of reach. She held him tight and ran her hands up and down his back, flooding him with sensations, trying to tell him with her body and her mouth that she had more to give him, much more, if only he would give her the chance.

He kissed her. If he minded doing that after what had just happened, he didn't show it. She kissed back. He moaned and settled into the kiss, and she became increasingly anxious as the seconds passed, but she didn't dare hurry him. She had to convince him....

At last he released her. "I promise," he said. His voice was a little rough, and she realized she could already feel his cock pressing against the crotch of her armor again. Jesus! 

"Human!" the krogan howled. The deck under their feet vibrated with his footfalls as he stomped toward the rear of the store.

Jim let go of Shepard and pushed her toward the exit hatch. She barely made it before the krogan emerged through the doorway. She paused for a moment outside the hatch and heard the krogan railing at Jim over his unfinished work. It was a tiny bit of satisfaction in a very bad day.


	2. Chapter 2

Kolyat shoved a bystander aside, sending him sprawling to the deck, and aimed his pistol at Talid's back.

"Kolyat!" Shepard shouted, or tried to - her airway still wasn't quite clear, and she doubled over, coughing.

But it was enough to distract him for an instant. Talid ran. Kolyat started after him. Thane followed. She staggered after Thane, almost blindly.

*

Thane emerged from Kolyat's cell and walked over to Bailey's desk.

"How'd it go?" Bailey asked.

"Our problems...they aren't something I can fix with a few words," Thane said. "We'll keep talking. See what happens."

Shepard kept her distance from both of them. If they noticed her disheveled appearance, they didn't comment on it. She hoped no one could smell her breath. Every time she thought about it, she felt a fresh flush of shame heating her face and neck.

She still had that awful feeling of fluid dripping from the back of her nose down her throat. She kept swallowing, trying to get the taste of Jim's semen out of her mouth and the smell out of her nose. She felt nauseous, and prayed she wouldn't throw up and show everyone what she had swallowed less than an hour ago. She kept wiping her face, which was dry but sticky, afraid she had somehow missed a stray drop.

She felt numb, almost in shock. There was a strange unreality to the world as it went on around her. And there was a feeling of vulnerability, a sense of an omnipresent threat, that hadn't been there before. She felt as if everyone could see what had happened to her. And soon, everyone might. She wanted nothing more than to run back to the Normandy, where she was safe, set a course for the far edge of the galaxy, and hide.

How had all this happened? How had she let herself be bullied into those awful things? And by that - kid? It was just a really unlucky situation, she kept telling herself. It wasn't her fault. But she couldn't make herself believe it. She kept replaying the whole thing in her mind, trying to imagine how she could have handled it differently. An hour ago she had been calm, confident, in control. Now she was shaking, sick, on the verge of being humiliated before the entire galaxy. What had she done wrong?

Bailey and Thane finished their conversation, whatever it was about - Kolyat, she guessed - and she and Thane walked away.

"Shepard," Thane said, "are you all right?"

"Yeah," she said, without looking at him.

"You seem troubled."

"I'm fine," she said, more shortly than she'd intended. She was angry at him for getting her into this, because that was easier than blaming Jim, who wasn't here, or herself. She knew it wasn't fair, but she was too upset to care. "Look," she said, "head back to the ship. I have to...take care of something." She strode away without waiting for his reply.

*

She raced back to the shop, sticking to the public corridors this time - after what had just happened to her, she never wanted to see another keeper tunnel. C-Sec was gone now, and so were the crowds of bystanders that had gathered after the incident. It took her a minute to match up the shop with the storeroom where Jim would be. She finally settled on a toy store. She strode past the displays of dolls and toy starships and stuffed animals, not even seeing them. 

There was the krogan, behind the counter. He was huge; no wonder he had such a voice. Normally, she would have felt a slight trepidation at approaching such a monster, but right now she was more afraid of Jim. "Excuse me," she said -

The krogan reared. "What do you want?"

She said, "I need to talk to your, uh, assistant - "

"What assistant?"

"The - uh - " how to explain? "I think he works in the back." She jabbed her thumb toward the storeroom.

"Oh. That assistant. I sent him home. With no pay. Useless human."

She was starting to see why Talid was so popular in this district. "Where does he live?"

The krogan guffawed. "How would I know where all you humans live? Go look in the recycling vats. He's probably in there."

She shook her head doggedly, ignoring his manner. "What's his last name?" She could look him up in the directory -

The krogan shrugged. "What's his first name? You come here to buy something?"

She turned on her heel and walked out.

She went to a public directory and asked for a listing of every human on the station with the first name "Jim" or "James", before realizing how hopeless it was. There were hundreds of them. And, of course, he might not even be listed. Or he might have lied to her.

She supposed she could ask Bailey to help her track the kid down. But how could she explain why she needed to find him? And he was probably lying low. At the first sign of C-Sec, if he even thought they were looking for him, he would disappear into the endless maze of keeper tunnels. 

She put her head in her hands and sat there for several minutes, listening to the conversations of people walking by and the occasional public announcement. Finally she got up and walked slowly back to the Normandy. She went straight to her cabin, locked the door, and told EDI she was not to be disturbed.

*

She woke up feeling like she'd just staggered out of a skycar crash. She glanced at the alarm clock, and her heart pounded. It was past ten.

"Fuck," she said groggily and rolled to a sitting position, putting her bare feet on the deck. Her head felt stuffed full of cotton, and her mouth tasted like something she didn't want to imagine. Her body was greasy with sweat and she felt chilly and nauseous.

An empty bottle of brandy stood on the nightstand. She didn't remember drinking most of it. She never drank aboard ship, but they were docked at the Citadel, and she hadn't been able to sleep last night...

Then she remembered why she hadn't been able to sleep. Her heart pounded even harder, her blood seeming to whoosh in her ears, and a sharp headache thumped in time with it, behind her right eye. She winced, pressing the heel of her palm into her eye, and stood. The world took a quick spin, and her stomach seemed to go along for the ride, and she quickly decided to sit back down. She groaned and fell sideways onto the bed. She was wearing her bra and panties from the day before; her uniform lay crumpled on the floor. At least she hadn't slept in it.

"Shepard?" EDI said.

"Unh," Shepard said, her face in her hands, her thumbs pressed into her ears. "Quiet."

But she had to get moving. She was annoyed she had let herself indulge in alcoholic self-numbing. She couldn't afford the time she had wasted. She had to go find Jim, right away. She forced herself to get up and lurch to the bathroom. She rinsed her mouth out and gargled with a harsh mouthwash and took some aspirin. She stripped and got into the shower and turned up the heat until it was almost scalding and let the combination of aspirin and steam go to work on her headache.

She stayed in the shower for fifteen minutes, wishing she could take an hour. She got out, toweled off, and looked at herself in the mirror. Her face looked pale and stricken, but still pretty in a fresh way that didn't need much makeup: vivid red hair, large green eyes, a spray of freckles across her cheekbones, and a full, almost pouting pink mouth.

She combed her hair and got dressed. The last thing she wanted was to draw attention, so she chose civvies instead of her uniform or armor. She put on her three-quarter length black and white and grey Cerberus jacket, slacks, and boots. 

She sat at her extranet terminal and sipped from a steaming mug of black coffee as she called up the latest editions of all the tabloids. Her eyes were closed, her breathing almost still. Her heart thumped and the headache threatened to return. She really didn't want to see this. She looked.

There was nothing. Unwillingly, she typed in a search for her own name. Still nothing, except the usual gossip, and there wasn't even much of that.

She slumped forward in her chair and rested her head on her crossed forearms. "Thank God, thank God," she moaned. She was still safe. At least for now.

With new energy, she jumped up and left her cabin. Thankfully, there was only a minimal watch while the ship was docked, so no one stopped her. She strode down the docking tube from the Normandy to the Citadel. She looked out the starboard viewport and her eyes were struck by the reflection of artificial sunlight on the artificial lakes of the Presidium below. It made her wince, but it was also a welcome sight to someone who spent most of her time looking at bulkheads or out of viewports at deep space. She hoped it was a good omen.

She walked around the slowly curving Presidium concourse to a VIP transport terminal and ordered a shuttle. "Where to?" Avina said.

"Zakera Ward," Shepard said. "800 blocks."

*

She returned to the toy store, hoping the krogan had gone home and left a nice helpful salarian in charge. But no - there he was behind the counter. She walked up and said, "Hi. I was here yesterday - "

"You!" the krogan snorted. "Are you behind this?"

That sounded ominous. "Behind what?" she asked with a sinking heart.

"Your pal here quit. Didn't even bother to show up. Just sent me an e-mail." The krogan's lips drew back from what looked like a hundred teeth. "Says he's sitting on an eezo mine. The next time he sees me, he'll be buying this store and firing my scaly ass." The krogan made a gravelly sound deep in his throat, and she realized he was laughing.

She swallowed hard. She didn't wait to hear more. She fled, with the krogan's laughter rumbling behind her.

*

She walked all around the Ward, her long legs flashing, her heart pounding, her eyes looking everywhere, searching the crowds for his face. Surely he lived around here somewhere. Surely he didn't commute to such a menial job.

The only thing she could think of was to start calling the tabloids, try to find out which of them Jim was negotiating with, and try to bribe or threaten them out of publishing the tape. She doubted either would work. She didn't have that much money, and she could hardly use Cerberus funds for something like this.

She stopped suddenly and stood there in the middle of the concourse with people flowing around her. She walked over to a directory and typed in a search. She found what she wanted, only about six blocks away. This would be really humiliating, but...

The asari behind the counter looked up with a smile. "Welcome to iPartner," she said. "I'm Cerina. Can I help you?"

"Yes," Shepard said, "I want to place an ad. I need to find someone. Um, a particular someone."

"Ah," Cerina said. "A missed connection?"

"Yes," Shepard said. "I need this to run everywhere. And often."

Cerina's smile grew brighter. "It must be someone very special."

"You could say that," Shepard said, trying to keep the nervous tension out of her voice and failing. Every time she thought about what was on that tape, she shuddered and felt cold sweat on her skin.

"I recommend our platinum placement plan, then," Cerina said. "Your advertisement will appear in every periodical on the Citadel, on the back cover for the smaller publications, and at the top of the classified section for the larger ones. It will also appear on every public extranet terminal and advertising holoscreen for ten seconds every fifteen minutes."

Shepard listened to this without hearing it. "I don't suppose I could describe him to you and have you send drones out after him," she said. "Or scan the public surveillance feeds for him."

Cerina giggled. "We'd like to offer such a service, but that violates Citadel privacy laws."

"All right," Shepard said. "How much?"

Cerina told her. Shepard winced. She had known it would be expensive, but -

Cerina sensed her hesitation and said, "The cost includes a three-dimensional holo of you - "

"God, no. I mean, uh - I'm camera shy. Just text, please. He'll know who it is."

"All right," Cerina said. "In that case, we can - wait. Aren't you..."

Shepard hugged herself. She would never be comfortable with fame, which was another reason this whole experience was so nightmarish for her. But she said, "Yeah. But I need to keep this discreet. Okay?"

"Of course," Cerina said. "I apologize. We do have many celebrity clients, but rarely one of your stature." She glanced around to make sure they were not overheard, then leaned forward. "I'll have to clear it with my supervisor, but I'm sure we can give you a sizable discount."

"In exchange for an endorsement," Shepard said.

Cerina smiled. "Only if he replies."

Shepard shrugged. "If you find him, I'll do it."

"Perfect," Cerina said. She handed Shepard a data pad. "In that case, if you'll just type in your message..."

It took Shepard almost twenty minutes to decide what to write. Since coming up with this idea, she hadn't really thought about what she would say. She finally settled on:

Jim, this is Lauren. Please call me. I promise I'll make it worth your while. Please.

God, she sounded somewhere between a jilted, lovelorn teenager and an obsessed stalker. She kept trying to edit out the note of desperation, almost hysteria, but it was impossible. And she was desperate. He had her over a barrel and there was little sense pretending otherwise. In fact she was tempted to say, "I'll do anything you want," but every time she read that on the screen she wanted to cry.

As it was, she blushed as she handed the pad back to Cerina, but Cerina politely ignored it. "All right," Cerina said cheerfully, "we'll get this out there." Shepard signed over an amount of credits that would take her several months to pay back, and left.

At least they didn't waste any time. Shepard saw her ad at the transit terminal on her way back to the Normandy. She quickly looked away. She hoped there were as many Laurens on the Citadel as there were Jims, so that none of her crew would guess it was her.

*

The longest day of Shepard's life crept by. She sat in her cabin and tried to catch up on her paperwork. She read the same page of the same report over and over and had no idea what it said. Every time her comm beeped, she jumped on it. None of the calls were from iPartner; they were all about routine ship matters. She gave irritable, distracted replies and signed off.

Thankfully, they had forty-eight hours of leave at the Citadel, though Shepard knew she would extend it for as long as it took. Her gut ached as she tried to think how to explain it to Miranda or her boss.

Finally she set the data pad down and closed her eyes and thought about Jim walking in the Wards and seeing her ad and calling.

*

Her comm beeped and jolted her from a nightmare. She was dreaming that her video was playing all over the Citadel, on every available holoscreen. Crowds of people laughed and cheered as they watched her kneeling, naked, in front of Jim as he came all over her face and breasts. A heavy black leather collar circled her neck, with his hand gripping the thick chain.

She was resting her head atop her crossed arms on her desk. She had drooled onto her data pad and the desk. She stared dumbly at the mess for a moment before she woke up enough to answer the call. She felt a little excitement, but not much. This wouldn't be iPartner. "Shepard here," she said, her voice fuzzy.

"Hello?" a woman's voice said. "Is this Lauren?"

Shepard sat upright. "Yes," she said, wide awake now.

"Hi, Lauren. This is Cerina from iPartner." Her voice promised good news. Seldom had anyone's voice sounded so welcome to Shepard. "I just wanted to let you know that we heard from Jim. He wants to meet with you."

Shepard slumped. "Oh, thank God," she said from her heart.

Cerina giggled. "I think everything's going to work out fine, Lauren."

"I hope you're right," Shepard said, again meaning every word.

"So," Cerina said, "about that endorsement..."

Despite herself, Shepard smiled. "Okay. What should I say?"

"Up to you. Just let me start the recording. Okay. Whenever you're ready."

Shepard cleared her throat. "I'm Commander Shepard, and I met my, uh - " What, blackmailer? She had to laugh a little. Now that she had a chance of retrieving that tape, her mood had improved wonderfully.

"How about 'the love of my life?'" Cerina said.

That was a lie, but somehow it made her feel better about this. She didn't have to say who it was, after all.

"All right. I'm Commander Shepard, and I met the love of my life with iPartner."

"Perfect," Cerina said. "Thank you so much, Lauren. I'll send over the place and time. Good luck, and let me know how it goes."

Shepard ended the call. A short message appeared, naming a place - a public park on the Presidium - and the time. She glanced at the clock and swore and jumped to her feet, her heart pounding and sending a fresh wave of dizziness through her. It was only ten minutes away.

She ran into the bathroom, splashed water on her face, brushed her teeth, and ran a comb through her hair. She didn't have time for any more.

*

She jogged to the park and arrived slightly disheveled and sweaty. She was in terrific shape, of course, as she was used to running in full armor, so at least she was breathing easily. But she was nearly ten minutes late, and panic gripped her at the thought that he might have given up and left.

But there he was, sitting in a wooden Adirondack chair that faced a small pond, waving lazily to her. She sighed with relief and walked over.

Now all she had to do was figure out how to convince him to hand over the tape.

She had thought about it all afternoon, as she waited and prayed for the call, but she could think of no other way. By now he would have made backups of the damned thing, and hidden them who knew where.

She could have Cerberus kidnap him and persuade him to hand over the tape. But she wasn't sure she was capable of ordering such a thing. Worse, if she did that, then the Illusive Man would have the tape. That was even more frightening than Jim having it.

She could ask C-Sec for help. They could raid his apartment, seize his extranet accounts, even lock him up until he told them where the tape was. But all he had to do was put an encrypted copy of the tape in an online data vault with a dead man's switch, so it would be decrypted and published automatically if he failed to check in periodically. Besides, cops loved to ask questions, and they would ask her all about how she had gotten into this mess. She could go directly to Bailey, but she didn't know him well enough to trust him with this. That he took bribes from someone like Elias Kelham did not encourage her.

She could ask Thane or Garrus for help. But it always came down to the same thing. She was just too embarrassed to tell anyone. How could she explain that she'd been outsmarted by this...kid? Or why she was so afraid of what he had on her?

Slowly, she had convinced herself that it would be easiest to just handle it herself, and give him what he wanted. Whatever he wanted. And, after all, he wasn't the Illusive Man, or the Shadow Broker. He was just a kid.

Surely she could deal with him.

She wished she were wearing something flashier than her Cerberus outfit, but she looked better in it than she realized. The outfit was mostly black, which showed off her shoulder-length red hair. And it was tailored and fit snugly, showing off her long legs, round hips and backside, slim waist, and pert breasts. And it was made of soft wool, so it felt good.

She did the best she could, putting a slight sway into her hips as she walked toward him. She'd been told before that she oozed sexuality, but she'd never learned to capitalize on it, nor did she want to. Her parents had given her a loving but no-nonsense upbringing that taught her to rely on hard work rather than charm. But the fruits of that hard work, her stature as a war heroine, meant nothing here.

He sat low in the chair, legs wide apart, seeming to thrust his pelvis toward her. He had exchanged the drab coveralls for jeans and a T-shirt that better showed his physique; either he did a lot of heavy lifting at his former job or he worked out.

He didn't bother to stand, but merely patted his right thigh. There were no other chairs.

She looked around, but no one seemed to be watching them. She stepped forward and threaded her left leg through the right arm of his chair, took hold of his shoulders, slipped her other leg through the other chair arm, and sat down, facing him, on his lap. God, she thought, please let no one see this.

His arms went around her waist, and hers around his neck. She hated public shows of affection, but now she rested her head against his and squeezed him tight. She could feel just how glad he was to see her - without her armor between them, it was even more pronounced. She felt a stir of pleasurable discomfort somewhere below her tummy. She had already accepted what was going to happen.

He held up his right hand, palm out, and she took it in hers and their fingers interlaced. She squeezed, hard. "I'm glad you're here," she said.

"I've been thinking about you," he said.

"It's mutual," she said.

"Yeah, I saw," he said. She could hear a smile in his voice. She hoped that was a good sign. "After you went to all that trouble, I figured the least I could do was hear you out."

She drew back and looked into his eyes. "I appreciate it," she said, trying to keep the irony out of her voice.

He put his free hand on the back of her neck and brought her mouth to his. She closed her eyes and felt her mouth press against his and -

*

"Fuck," Khalisah Bint Sinan al-Jilani said softly, watching Shepard squirm on the man's lap, holding his hand tightly in hers as she made out with him. The man bit Shepard's lower lip, making her gasp lightly, and then sucked her tongue into his mouth. Shepard moaned, deep in her throat, and the sound was picked up by the shotgun microphone.

Earlier, Khalisah had received an anonymous tip that if she showed up here and hid herself carefully, she might get to see "something spicy" involving Lauren Shepard. She found that hard to believe, but she was having a slow day anyway.

Plus, she had interviewed Shepard twice, and Shepard had gotten the better of her on both occasions. It would be very satisfying, on both a professional and personal level, to show her viewers a more...private side of the woman.

So Khalisah was sitting on the terrace of a parkside restaurant some distance away, her back to them, controlling her camera remotely. She had concealed it in some bushes not far from where Shepard and the man were now busily swapping saliva - the first of several bodily fluids, from the way things were going. Khalisah didn't know who he was yet, which surprised her, but she was already working on it, keeping one eye on the action on her screen.

Under the table, Khalisah's left hand slipped between her thighs and began to rub herself through her dress as she watched them. She didn't think of herself as a voyeur, but this...

*

The kiss finally broke, leaving a tiny wet thread still joining their mouths together.

"You're a good kisser," she said. She was not a good liar - as he had already proven - so she was trying to stick to the truth. So far she had succeeded.

"You are beautiful," he said. The way he said it made her want to glance down and make sure she was still clothed. Then she remembered that he had last seen her - and held her - while she was wearing armor.

Neither of them seemed to want to mention the tape, though they both knew it was why she was here. But she was no better at the oblique approach than she was at lying. "Look - Jim - "

To her surprise, he said, "Sorry about that tape." He grinned. "I had to give you an excuse to come back."

She suppressed a flash of anger and said evenly, "If you hadn't humiliated me like that, maybe I would have anyway. Didn't I at least deserve the choice?"

"I'm sure you did," he said. "But, again - better safe than sorry."

This wasn't the time to argue, she thought. "All right, I accept your apology. Or I will, if you give me the tape." Might as well try the direct approach.

"In fact," he said, "I was going to sell it - " she hung her head - "but..."

"But you're here," she said quickly. Surely that meant something. Surely he hadn't come here just to taunt her.

"I just wanted to hear your offer," he said. "I haven't heard it yet."

"I can pay you whatever you want," she said.

"Westerlund News offered ten million," he said.

"Bullshit," she said; but there was a slight hesitation before she said it, and a flicker of doubt in her voice.

He shrugged. "You're a celebrity. Plus, most of the galaxy still thinks you're dead. So a sex tape of you is like a new Monet or a Rembrandt. As far as anyone knows, they're not making any more." He smiled crookedly. "So yeah, Lauren, you're worth ten million. You should be proud."

You won't live to spend it, she thought, but didn't say. With that kind of money, someone as smart as he was could certainly hide well, and for a long time.

She looked down. "I...I could probably put together five," she said. She had no idea how. She could embezzle every cent in her Cerberus expense account and still not come close to one million.

"Ten is a lot more than five," he said.

"Please." Her voice was unsteady. "I don't know how to beg. I've never had to. But I'm doing it now. I'm begging you. That tape isn't like a - a Rembrandt. It will wreck my life. Please, please don't show it to anyone." She searched his face for some hint as to how she could persuade him. She was squeezing his right hand very hard now, though she didn't realize it.

His expression softened a bit. He cupped her cheek in his hand. A tear was brimming in her left eye, threatening to run over. He ran his fingers through her hair. She closed her eyes, and the tear did run over, sliding wetly down her cheek. He brushed the tear away with his thumb, then slipped his hand around the back of her neck and pressed her trembling mouth to his.

Maybe that was the hint.

She rested her forehead against his. "Look," she said softly. "There are things credits can't buy."

Her eyes were closed, but she heard a smile in his voice. "Tell me."

"Heartfelt appreciation?"

"And?"

"Tenderness. Affection. Trust." She opened her eyes and studied his face. Should she say "Love?" Or was that going too far? She settled for kissing him instead, and he responded readily, which encouraged her. She gave him a crooked smile and put a hint of mischief into her voice. "Besides, mister, I believe you promised me a rematch."

He couldn't resist saying, "That's so not gonna happen."

She flushed at the reminder of her own words. She swallowed. "I was wrong. It's gonna happen. All right?"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," she said.

"Tell me."

She forced her eyes to meet his and her voice level to stay level as she said, "I want to do it again." It's not a lie, she told herself, if the alternative is having that tape released.

He leaned forward and whispered something in her ear.

"Yes," she quickly agreed. "I want you inside me."

She felt his reaction to that. His voice was noticeably rougher as he said, "Once more. And nicely."

Her mouth tightened. "What, are you recording this too?"

"No," he said, "I'm not. I just like hearing you say it."

She let out a deep breath. He already had the goods on her anyway. This would hardly make it worse. She leaned forward and rested her forehead against his and said, slowly, "I want you inside me, Jimmy. Please?"

"I want that too, Lauren," he said.

Her heart picked up speed. "And then I get the tape?"

She knew at once that was a mistake. His smile faded slightly, then came back. He said, "We'll see." His hand slipped into her hair again and brought her face to his and her eyes closed as their lips met in another long and hungry kiss.

*

Khalisah watched Shepard and Reynolds - she had dug up his name - stand up. She hadn't been able to hear their conversation, except at one point, where she distinctly heard Shepard say "please". That made it clear enough. Reynolds had slept with Shepard and then dumped her - it wasn't a relationship, because Khalisah had never seen them together before - and Shepard had begged him to take her back. And he had - they were leaving together, holding hands, happy. The kid must be some talent in the sack, Khalisah thought, because he was much younger than Shepard, and he was a nobody.

If Khalisah were a cynic, her story would say something about Shepard slumming in the Wards or robbing the cradle. But something about the scene touched her. And Shepard was a hero. And by now everyone knew her former lover - Alenko, his name was - had dumped her. Kicking Shepard while she was down would not play well - her viewers would want a happy ending. So Khalisah would put a positive, romantic spin on the story.

First, though, she retrieved her camera and followed them at a discreet distance.


	3. Chapter 3

Shepard assumed Jim would want to go straight to a hotel - she could hardly take him back to the Normandy. To her surprise, he insisted on taking her to dinner first. She was annoyed by the implication that they were out on a date. But she hadn't eaten all day - she had been too nervous - and she was hungry enough that even dinner with him sounded tolerable.

He chose the place, since he knew the Citadel better than she did. It was a small Japanese restaurant in Bachjret Ward. From the outside, it looked like a hole in the wall, but inside it was rustic and cozy, all dark wood and cream tablecloths and candlelight. It was early for dinner, and the place was quiet. The waitress recognized Jim and led them, at his suggestion, to a small table in the far corner that was mostly hidden by a wine rack. The privacy certainly suited Shepard.

She would have liked a stiff drink - she could use some liquid courage for what she had to do tonight - but she was still recovering from last night. Sake seemed like a good compromise. It was served warm in an elegant earthenware bottle with a porcelain cup. She knew she was supposed to sip it, but she drank down her first cup and poured another.

The waitress came to take their orders. She opened her mouth to order, but Jim smoothly ordered for both of them. An angry flush climbed her neck and heated her face, but she kept quiet. The waitress left without looking at her.

"You do that to everyone you bring here?" she said.

"Only the ones I like. Trust me, you'll like it."

"At least you didn't get me sushi," she said.

"You seem like more of a meat and potatoes kind of girl," he said.

She wasn't much for small talk. To her relief, neither was he. She disliked dating within the service, but dating civilians was even harder. She had little in common with them. They tended to either fawn over her or make a show of being unimpressed by her. Jim just seemed to take her as she was. They were strangers, and had little reason to be comfortable with silence, but somehow they were.

At one point he said, "That friend of yours. Is his son okay?"

She was surprised he remembered. She said, "Yes, no thanks to you."

He nodded. If her anger bothered him, he hid it well.

Their food arrived. He had, at least, ordered a variety of things: edamame and tempura and yakitori and various udon and soba dishes.

Shepard had picked up an unfortunate habit in the marines, which was to eat whatever was put in front of her as quickly as she could. At nice meals she had to force herself to slow down. She was just picking up her chopsticks when he said, "Don't bother."

She frowned at him. "Why not?"

"Close your eyes."

She looked at him to see if he was serious. He was. With a tiny shrug, she closed her eyes.

She felt him tap her lower lip with a chopstick. "Open," he said.

She frowned harder, but she kept her eyes closed. "This is - "

As she spoke, he put a large sticky clump of rice in her mouth. Her eyes flew open for a moment before she remembered to close them again. She growled, deep in her throat, but she chewed and swallowed. It tasted very good. "I feel ridiculous," she said. "I hope you're happy."

"I am, but that's not the reason," he said.

She started to say she wasn't going to eat from the same chopsticks he did, but then she realized it would sound silly when they had already been a lot more intimate than that. "Fine," she said. She put her hands in her lap and let him feed her.

She found herself trying to guess what he was going to feed her next. As the meal went on, she got better at it. Not being able to see also seemed to heighten her senses of taste and smell. Or maybe that was because she was hungry.

For him it was erotic just to watch her eat from the chopsticks he held out for her. He watched the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed, the tiny hints of pleasure in her face as she chewed, the ripple of her throat as she swallowed. Once, careful not to rock the table, he leaned forward over it and kissed her. Her large green eyes fluttered briefly open and then closed again. He thought he saw a tiny smile tug at the corner of her mouth, just for an instant.

The waitress came by as Shepard was sucking the edamame beans from the pod he was holding for her. She opened her eyes and found herself looking right at the waitress, who gave her a sweet smile, as if to say how romantic this looked, and she blushed.

"I like this place," she said. "Too bad I can never come back." At least he let her drink her own sake.

They finished and their dishes were taken away. He said, "I had a great time yesterday, Lauren."

His words gave her a bad premonition. "I'm sure you did," she said cautiously.

"I was thinking we could do it again," he said.

"Sure," she said. She leaned forward as if asking for a kiss.

He gave her one, a nice one. It went on for a while, and before it was over, his hand was on her back of her neck and her eyes were closed and her mouth was open. He ran his fingertips lightly down the side of her neck and she shivered. As the kiss broke, a tiny line of wetness briefly joined their mouths.

"I had something else in mind too, though," he said.

"I'm sure you did," she said.

"The sooner you start, the sooner you'll be done," he said.

She frowned. "What, here?"

She knew what he wanted, and he knew she knew, but he didn't seem impatient with her evasions. He was enjoying this, she realized, because he knew in the end she had no choice.

She took her napkin from her lap and wadded it up and threw it on the table. "You really are adolescent," she said. She was disappointed, and trying to hide it with anger. To her surprise, she had enjoyed having him feed her - not that she would ever admit it - but then he had to do something like this.

She slid down in her chair and lifted the tablecloth - thankfully, it was long enough to touch the floor - as if she were looking for a lost earring. "Make sure no one's looking," she hissed, "unless you want us both thrown out."

He was already watching. "You're clear."

She slid to her knees under the table. It was very dark. Thankfully, the floor felt clean. She bumped into one of his knees and felt her way to his crotch. She unbuttoned his fly and tugged his underpants down and extracted his cock, which was already stiffening. The light touch of her fingers quickly brought it the rest of the way to full hardness.

She put both hands on it and there was still plenty left for her mouth. Hard and full as it was, it seemed to swell even more as her warm hands enclosed it, and she felt it pulsing as if it had a tiny heartbeat of its own. She took a deep breath and took it in her mouth. The head was already glazed with pre-cum; she grimaced, more at the stickiness than the salty taste. But other than that, he tasted clean, as he had yesterday, and today she found it a bit easier to accept what she was doing.

Unseen but only touched and tasted, his cock seemed even larger and more thickly studded with veins than it had yesterday. Again she felt the tiny flutter of muscles somewhere below her tummy as she thought about how it would feel inside her.

"She just went to freshen up," she heard Jim say, presumably to the waitress. He had good self-control; he was a little out of breath, but that was it. She realized, as she listened to the background hum of conversation, that the restaurant was much busier than when they arrived. She tried not to think about him springing another evil surprise on her just as he came, such as suddenly whisking up the tablecloth and revealing her. She just kept sucking and licking and squeezing and stroking. It was just a chore, she told herself, just something to get through. She'd had to do plenty of unpleasant chores in the marines.

She didn't put in quite the same performance she had yesterday, but she still wanted to get this over with as quickly as she could. And her technique was improving. Unwillingly, she was becoming attuned to the small subtle hints of his physical reactions. She was learning how she should use her hands and lips and tongue, singly and in concert. How hard she should suck. How fast she should slide her mouth up and down over him. How fast she should stroke him. How hard she should squeeze.

His left hand came to rest on the back of her neck, gently guiding her by varying the pressure of his touch. His right hand brushed a few stray strands of her hair back from her flushed, sweaty face and tucked them behind her ear. Then his fingers combed slowly through her hair, again and again, making her scalp light up with tiny sparks of pleasure. She moaned involuntarily, deep in her throat, and his cock seemed to quiver with pleasure inside her warm wet mouth.

He liked it, she found, when she squeezed him tightly with the rings made by her thumbs and forefingers at the same time she sucked hard at the head of his cock. Or when she took him as far into her throat as she could and held him there, her breathing still and her eyes watering, then released him with a wet gasp. Or when she caressed him all over with her tongue, applying a thick coating of drool, then gripped him at the base with one hand and rapidly stroked him with the other, using her saliva as lubricant.

Just a chore. Just something to get through.

In some ways, it wasn't as bad as yesterday. She wasn't in the middle of a mission. They were less likely to be caught. She didn't have to look up at him and see him looking down at her. It was still humiliating, but, she reflected bleakly, she was quickly getting used to being humiliated.

That, she realized, was what was bothering her - her growing familiarity with this cock in her mouth, her growing sense of connection with this man she was unwillingly pleasuring, her growing fear that she was going to be doing this, and things like this, for a long time.

But until she found a way to get that tape from him, there was nothing she could do but accept it. Meanwhile, she made a silent promise to herself that she would find a way out of this; that this would not become a fixture of her life.

Just then, she felt his hand tighten on the back of her neck and his cock begin to spasm as he came in her mouth, flooding it with thick warm semen. Once again, she found herself having to meekly swallow every sticky drop to make sure none of it ended up on her clothing, where it would stand out vividly on the dark fabric. There was nearly as much as there had been yesterday. He liked her, all right, she thought bleakly.

She carefully sucked the head of his cock clean and swallowed the last of his seed. Then she put his cock back into his pants and zipped them up. She heard him say, "Okay," and she climbed back into her seat. She caught her reflection in the glass of a nearby painting. Her hair was tousled, her eyes wet, her makeup smeared, and there was a thick glob of semen glistening at the corner of her mouth. She dabbed it away with her napkin.

She didn't want to look at him after being humiliated like this for the second time, but she did. He looked even more sated than he had after eating his dinner, but at least he didn't look smug.

"How about another kiss?" she said sweetly. He didn't hesitate, but leaned forward, and their mouths met over the table. The kiss felt more intense than usual, maybe because they were touching each other nowhere else. Then he put his hand on the back of her neck and pressed his tongue into her mouth.

His warm breath tickled her face. His hand stroked the back of her neck, ruffling her hair and sending little tingles up into the back of her head and down into her spine. She felt her nipples poking stiffly into the soft fabric of her bra, and she found she was pressing her thighs together. She had only meant to one-up him, but now her eyes drifted closed and she gave a tiny moan as she unexpectedly found herself enjoying the kiss. She was confused. She was angry about what he had just made her do. So why did this feel - 

The kiss broke and she expected him to let her go, but then his lips fastened on her chin and he sucked, briefly but hard. Her eyes fluttered open and her lips parted in a surprised gasp of pleasure. Then he let her go. She remained leaning forward, her lips still parted, her green eyes watching him.

"How did you - " Her voice was unexpectedly rough; she coughed and took a drink of sake.

"Lucky guess," he said. "I'll do that again."

"Yes," she said without thinking. Then something occurred to her. "That's two you owe me now. How about you - " She pointed at the floor. She didn't really feel like having him go down on her here and now, but...

He smirked. "Oh, I will, don't worry. I just want to take my time. This was just to take the edge off first."

She sat back. Was that disappointment she was feeling? She thrust it down. "Order me some coffee, then," she said. "I wanna get this taste out of my mouth." She realized he might think she was talking about the kiss. "Uh - I mean, from the blowjob," she added hastily, then she blushed at her own words. Thankfully, he didn't tease her about it.

*

Khalisah picked them up again outside the restaurant.

As she had expected, they went from there to a hotel - a nice one. She wasn't able to follow them inside - the doorman recognized her - but she managed to get a few shots of them entering together. Later, she would talk to her contacts in the hotel staff in case they saw anything. For now, she went back to the terrace overlooking the park, ordered a well-deserved drink, and began putting her story together.


	4. Chapter 4

Shepard got them a room at the palatial Admiralty Hotel. She thought she had better try to impress him, and she could hardly take him back to the Normandy. At least she could put this on her Cerberus expense account, though Miranda would no doubt have some pointed questions about it. Shepard wasn't going to worry about that now. She was here, she had no choice about it, and she was going to deal with it as best she could.

Their room offered views of both the Presidium lakes and the glowing cityscape of Zakera Ward extending outward into the Widow Nebula. Shepard walked over to a window and looked down at the park they had met in, now far below. The shadows of the trees were lengthening quickly as artificial nightfall settled over the Citadel.

Jim embraced her from behind. He brushed her hair out of the way and kissed the side of her neck as his fingers found and opened the buttons down the front of her Cerberus jacket. He eased it off her shoulders and tossed it onto the bed.

She shivered as she felt cool air on her skin. The warmth of his hands was surprisingly welcome as they slid under her arms and cupped her breasts through her bra. It was a standard-issue black sports bra - she hadn't had time to change into anything sexier - but on her sleek, athletic body it looked good. Her breasts made two small firm mounds underneath it.

She was tense at first, but under his gentle, insistent touch, she found herself relaxing back into his embrace. Whatever her mind thought or her heart felt, her body was plainly happy to accept his attentions. She didn't like that, but, she told herself, she hadn't been touched like this in months; it was hardly her fault.

Her arms hung at her sides as he caressed and massaged her breasts and continued kissing the side of her neck. As the minutes went by, she tilted her head back and rested it on his shoulder and looked at the ceiling, unseeing, her face placid and slightly dreamy. Her eyes drifted closed and her lips parted unconsciously and her breath whispered noisily in and out through her nose and along the roof of her mouth.

Then she felt his tongue brush her hair aside and glide slowly along the edge of her ear. A rush of tingling warmth flooded the right side of her face and neck; she could feel her heart beating faster and her blood rushing. Her skin prickled and, despite the coolness of the room, she began to sweat. Her nipples hardened and it seemed as if they could feel every single fiber in the fabric of her bra, a sensation that lay in some uneasy place between pleasure and discomfort.

His hands gave her breasts a final squeeze and then slid down over her tummy, his fingers tracing the vertical ridges of her abdominal muscles. "Beautiful," he whispered to her, and she felt an unexpected pleasure - her workouts didn't really focus on those, but it was nice to have them noticed.

He unbuttoned and unzipped her slacks and then tugged them slowly down over her hips - left, then right, then left - until they slid down her long legs to her ankles. Slowly, as if in a trance, she stepped out of her slacks with her left foot, then her right. He kissed his way down her spine to the small of her back as he crouched and lifted her legs and unzipped her boots and pulled them off, along with her socks, then made his way back up.

A wisp of red hair curled over the waistband of her panties. He held her from behind, his arms tight around her middle. She pressed herself back against him - purely for warmth, she told herself. She could feel his erection digging into the small of her back - she was again surprised, and oddly a little smug, at her apparent ability to make him so hard again so quickly. She wondered why he didn't turn her around so he could look at her, but then she realized he could see her reflection in the window. He took his time admiring her.

She was nervous. Other than Miranda, no one had seen her nude, or even close to it, since Cerberus rebuilt her. She couldn't help but wonder if he would find some flaw she hadn't noticed.

More to the point, would everything...work right? She had hoped to explore the question slowly and gently with Kaidan, or, when that didn't work out, with Jacob. 

Instead, she was going to find out at the hands of this stranger, who had caught her at a bad moment and had somehow escalated it into this unending nightmare. She still expected him to be rough with her, knowing she had no option but to grit her teeth and take it.

Her bra was made of elastic fabric and didn't have a clasp. He lifted her arms and slid it up over her head, and her small firm breasts bobbed free. Like her cheekbones, they had a light spray of freckles along the top. Her nipples and areolae were small and pink and sat high on her breasts. She would have liked her breasts to be a little larger, because they were sensitive and she loved having attention paid to them -

"Fuck," he breathed, "these are perfect."

"I'm so glad you like them," she said. Her tone was sarcastic, but he ignored that. His hands cupped her breasts, skin on skin this time, and showed her just how much he liked them.

Her nipples stiffened even more as they felt the cool air. His tongue continued to tease her ear as he slid her nipples between his fingers, which were roughened and calloused by work. Her nipples felt like little lightning rods of sensation, almost sore. She moaned - she simply couldn't hold it in - as he gently squeezed and pinched them. She caught a glimpse of his smile in his reflection.

Then his right hand let go and slid down over her tummy and between her thighs and began gently stroking her through her panties. Like her bra, her panties were made for durability and comfort rather than looks, but the fabric was soft, and felt...

...good, she realized, as he rubbed it against her.

His middle finger traced her slit up and down through her panties. She wasn't exactly comfortable with this, but it was much better than some of the things he'd made her put up with. So she closed her eyes and breathed deep and moved her feet apart slightly to give him more room. Little by little his finger began curling inward, insinuating the fabric between her outer lips. She realized she was getting -

"Wet," he whispered into her ear, his breathing soft and warm on her neck. The word sent a tiny shock down her spine. She felt her face heating.

She didn't like this man, and she really didn't like that she was responding to him this way, but she couldn't seem to help it. She told herself not to be ashamed. It was hardly her fault. She had no choice but to let him touch her, and he was obviously skilled and patient. She had not had any sexual release in months. It was only natural, she told herself, for her body to react in this way, regardless of how she felt about it.

"Tell me," he said.

She nodded almost imperceptibly.

His lips brushed her ear. "Tell me," he said. "You have a beautiful voice, Lauren. I wanna hear it."

That made her feel good and self-conscious at the same time. "You're makin' me wet," she said. Her voice was barely a whisper.

He took his hand away and her eyes followed it in his reflection as he raised his fingers to his lips and tasted her wetness. "Mm," he said, and the grin in his voice and on his face made her blush. His hand went back to rubbing her; of itself, her pelvis moved to meet his touch an instant sooner. His tongue flicked her ear again as he said, "You taste good." She bit her lip and swallowed hard and curled her toes, feeling little tufts of the rich soft carpet squeezed between them.

The middle finger of his left hand was now pressing quite firmly into her slit; it slid up to the top and she rolled her pelvis forward just a little. Then it went back down to the bottom and she stifled a whimper of disappointment. The next time it came up to the top, her hand closed over his to keep it there. He stopped and now his first two fingers began making a slow circle around her clitoral hood.

"Ohh," she said.

"You like that?" he said.

"Mm hm."

"Tell me."

She rolled her eyes before remembering he could see her reflection. She was not a talker. The way he made her articulate everything she was feeling gave her a strange mixture of irritation and arousal. "Rub my clit," she said. "Please," she added.

And he did, for several minutes, as she squirmed in his embrace. Pinwheels of tiny sparks seemed to ripple outward through her body from wherever he touched it. At last he hooked his thumbs in the waistband of her panties and slid them down and she kicked them away. She was now totally bare - she never wore jewelry. She had a small, neatly trimmed triangle of vivid red hair pointing down to her vagina. He locked his arms around her tummy and squeezed her tightly from behind, again letting her feel just how hard he was.

She twisted in his embrace to face him. She closed her eyes as they kissed. He took a step forward, and another. She moved with him until she backed into the floor-to-ceiling window. She flinched, expecting it to be cold, but it wasn't; it must be heated. They kissed more. She grabbed the bottom of his shirt and lifted it off him, not because she wanted to encourage him, but because it seemed unfair for him to be fully dressed while she was nude. Then she put her hands on his shoulders and pressed firmly downward.

He seemed amused but willing to follow her lead. He crouched before her. She lifted her left leg over his shoulder and rested it across his back. She put her hand on top of his head, wishing he had more hair so she could entwine her fingers in it. Her vulva glistened with moisture; he rubbed his nose in it and she moaned and her fingers curled, her nails lightly scraping his scalp. He pressed his tongue into her pussy and licked her up to her clit, and she cried out. Her toes curled, her nails digging into his back, and her thighs closed on his head.

Her clit was already peeking out from under its protective hood; his tongue had little trouble teasing and coaxing it the rest of the way out. She moaned and squirmed and soon his face was damp with her wetness and flushed with her heat. Her hand gripped the back of his head, her fingers splayed, tendons standing out slightly on her forearm. "Yes," she whispered.

He kissed her clit. "Yes what?"

"Yes, please lick me," she said, her voice strained. She was more than a little embarrassed at giving in so easily, but God, she'd been needing this for what seemed like forever.

He did as she asked. Her clit was fully exposed now, and he flooded it with attention. Occasionally he rubbed his nose against it as he pressed his tongue inside her and along the roof of her vaginal canal.

"Fuck," she whimpered. Her back was arched, her head thrust back against the window. Her eyes were shut and there was a faint vertical crease between her eyebrows. Despite the cool air, her naked body glistened with sweat, and strands of her red hair clung to her damp face. Her chest and neck were flushed. Her nipples were almost painfully hard, her areolae darker pink and slightly splotchy now. "God - Jimmy - I'm gonna - "

He flicked her clit with his tongue and very nearly sent her over the edge. "Say please."

"Oh God, please," she said. She wasn't thinking now; she was just doing whatever she had to - "Please let me cum, pleeease - "

He did. He sucked her clit between his lips, all the way down to the base and -

"OH," she cried, and then her body seized up and she felt the instant of weightless suspension as her orgasm took control of her. Then she was sliding down the other side, out of control, breathless and exhilarated and a little afraid. She cried out again, harder, shuddering all over as waves of pure pleasure shot outward from her core to her fingertips, to the roots of her hair, to her toes. It took a while for the aftershocks to run their course.

"God," she said at last, slumping back against the window; the word was almost a sob. The room looked as if it had tilted a little to one side and was revolving slowly around her, but she didn't feel dizzy, just dazed and happy. She had known she needed some release, but -

"Shh," he said. He eased her thigh off his shoulder and stood and had her lock her still shaky legs around his waist.

"Wha - " she said as he picked her up. Her arms closed around his neck. She left behind a steamy imprint of her body on the window. "Jim," she said, "wait - " She knew she was much heavier than she looked, thanks to her augmentations. She could feel his muscles quivering with the effort, but his gait was smooth enough. He carried her toward the bed. She closed her eyes and just let him carry her.

He set her on the bed and then she felt his hand on the back of her neck and his lips on hers. She kissed back before she thought about it, then realized she was tasting her own sticky wetness. Well, fair's fair, she thought, and kept kissing.

The kiss ended and she let herself fall backward into the soft covers. She lay there like a doll, her arms and legs flung across the bed, utterly careless of her modesty. She felt an unexpected giddy warmth bubbling up from inside her, and she giggled.


	5. Chapter 5

She expected to hear the sound of him unzipping his pants. But instead he leaned over and buried his nose in her fiery red landing strip. It was dense, though trimmed and surprisingly soft. He kissed her there, and then lower down. Her clit had retreated back under her clitoral hood, and his tongue caressed it, trying to draw it back out. She squirmed and said, "Wait - "

He kissed her mons again and she felt his lips move in a smile. "Too soon?"

"Too soon," she said. So he didn't know everything. The thought was oddly comforting. Still, she was impressed. She refused to date men who wouldn't go down on her. She became bored with men who regarded it a chore, or a favor to her. She didn't remember the last man who had offered to do it twice without her asking. Kaidan had done it once and seemed fine with it, but she wasn't sure if -

She heard him take off the rest of his clothes. She felt the sweat starting to dry on her skin, and she shivered, but did not open her eyes. Now, she thought, he would fuck her - 

She felt the skin of her left wrist tingling, the hairs on her forearm standing on end. It was an odd but not unpleasant sensation, a little like static electricity. At first she thought her was stroking her forearm with his fingertips, but the feeling wasn't quite right for that. Then she felt the same sensation on her left ankle, and her eyes flew open, but even as they did, she knew what it was.

He had fastened her hand to the bedpost with a pair of omni-cuffs. Then her foot. Reflexively, she tugged at both restraints at once. They had some give, but it was like pulling on an enormously strong rubber band; she only made it a couple of inches before the resistance was too much even for her immense strength. She stopped pulling; instead of snapping back, the omni-cuffs constricted smoothly but inexorably. They could, she knew, be used to restrain anything from a volus to an angry krogan.

She still had her right hand and foot free, but he was already walking around to the other side of the bed, just out of her reach.

"Wait," she said. She felt a strange mixture of amusement, nervousness, and...something else. "You're tying me up?"

"Mm hm," he said. He attached another pair of cuffs to the upper left bedpost. The bedpost was thick, at least two inches square, and the wood was dark and grainy. She moved her hand away, to her side.

"Hey," she said. Her voice was rising; she tried to force it down. "What if I'm claustrophobic or whatever?"

"Are you?"

She sighed. "Let me guess," she said. "It's either this or you release the tape."

"No," he said. "I won't. It depends on whether you trust me."

"Just what are you going to do?" she said.

He kissed her just under her jawline. "I am going to appreciate every inch of you, Lauren," he said. "Inside and out. Nice and slow." Every muscle from her tummy to her thighs tightened a little at the quiet and deliberate way he said it, and he put a certain...edge on the word "appreciate" that stopped her breath for a moment.

She thought about it. She wasn't scared, exactly. But uneasy? Definitely. Once she was tied up, she would be utterly at his mercy, more so than with the tape. With both her hands tied, she would be unable to use her omni-tool. She doubted she could get enough leverage to break any of the bedposts. She could scream, but the walls were surely well insulated, and she might not be heard. She had signed into the hotel using a false identity, and not one of the ones Cerberus had given her - the last thing she had wanted was for anyone to find out about this. The Normandy wasn't due to depart for more than twelve hours, and she had told EDI she might not be back tonight. No one would even be looking for her.

On the other hand, he could have threatened to release the tape, but he hadn't. He might be lying about that, but why? If he had threatened to release it, would she let him do this?

As it was, she wasn't going anywhere until he sent the release codes to the omni-cuffs. She might be able to hack them with her omni-tool, but it would take hours.

"I don't know," she sighed. She swallowed, and abruptly realized she was very thirsty. "Can I have some ice water?" she said. "Please," she added. She tugged again at the omni-cuff on her wrist and gave him a rueful smile. "Since I can't seem to get it myself at the moment."

He got up and went into the kitchen. She heard him looking in the cupboards for a glass. Then ice clinked into the glass and water ran. He came back with the glass and handed it to her. She took it in her free hand and sat up and drank.

She crunched the ice as she drank, which helped her think. She was curious, she realized. He had given her a fantastic orgasm with his tongue, and she was hoping he would do it again. She also had to admit she was a little turned on by the thought of being tied up while he did it. And she didn't think he would hurt her. Yes, he was a jerk, but she'd met her fair share of really bad people and she didn't get that sense from him.

She set the empty glass on the bedside table. He took her hand, and she did not resist as he placed her wrist inside the open omni-cuff, which automatically closed around her wrist. "I'd better not regret this," she said.

He smiled and leaned down and kissed her. He stood and secured her other foot to the remaining bedpost. Then he picked up her clothes and opened the closet and put them in the safe. She couldn't see the combination he keyed in, but she heard the safe beep as it was locked. 

That, she hadn't expected. Now she was effectively confined to the room until he let her leave.

"You're keeping my clothes?" she said.

"You'll get them back," he said, "if you're good. Except your panties and bra." He smirked. "Those are spoils of war."

"Great," she sighed.

He opened a drawer in the bedside table and took out a plastic package and tore it open. Inside was a sleeping mask, which he placed over her eyes.

So, she thought, I am stark naked, chained to the bed in the shape of an X, and I can't see. Really great.

"Hey," she said, "you're not going to record this, are you?"

"Not a bad idea," he said. "We'll see."

She decided to be quiet.

*

She wasn't able to stay quiet for very long, though.

He showed her what he meant by appreciation. He started with only his tongue. At first he just roamed freely, letting himself get lost in the wonder of her naked body. Neither of them knew where he was going to go next, which she found surprisingly arousing, though she couldn't help but be disappointed when his path led him away from one of her pleasure spots. Eventually he circled back to her pussy and spent a few minutes teasing her clit, but just enough to get her quivering with need. She whimpered with frustration when he stopped.

Then he explored her all over, inside and out, using both his tongue and his fingertips, mapping the territory, looking for the weaknesses he hadn't found already. From between her toes to behind her ears and back again. From her navel to her perineum - he stopped short of rimming her, mostly to her relief, but it was clear that if she wanted him to do that too, he would. He tried combinations of things, such as nibbling her ear while teasing her nipples, or sucking her fingers while stroking her clit. He found things that she hadn't even known she liked.

It took two hours - it seemed like quite a bit longer to her - and by the end of it she was slick with sweat, tugging quite urgently at her restraints, pleading with him to go down on her again. Somehow, her uneasiness and helplessness made the sensations even more intensely pleasurable.

"Please," she whined, squirming and twisting on the bed, as much as her restraints would let her. "Please lick me."

Her clit was fully exposed, flushed dark pink, looking as if it were pointing at him. He kissed it and slipped two fingers into her vagina - she was tight, but very wet, and there was no resistance - and began making a come-here motion inside her as he licked.

"Oh God, yes," she whimpered, trembling all over. "Yes please."

He kept licking her clit and stroking the inside of her vagina, but he paced himself carefully, bringing her right to the edge again and again, but never quite giving her enough of a push to get over it.

"Please," she said, and he could almost feel the ache in her voice. "Please let me cum."

He told her what he wanted. The humiliation of it, somehow, drove her on. She cried out, somewhat incoherently, "I'm Shepard and I really fucking need to cum!"

He sucked greedily at her clit and pumped his bent fingers in and out of her in several hard thrusts, feeling her vaginal muscles squeezing them as if they would break them. The dam broke and the flood that had been building behind it for two hours was released. Her body arched and her head thrust back into the soft bed, exposing her throat, as she cried out her orgasm. She squirted, which she had never done before, dampening his hand and the bed. A small part of her was unnerved at the way her climax seemed to just go on and on, as if it would shake her to pieces rather than let go of her. At last, though, it did. 

She lay there, trembling, taking several shaky breaths that were almost sobs. She felt him lie down alongside her and then he took the sleeping mask off her face. Her eyes adjusted easily; the room was lit only by the ghostly glow of the Widow Nebula.

He held her and she felt his erection digging into her side. She shivered and started to turn into his embrace, but was caught by her restraints. She tugged at them and said, "Are you going to untie me?"

"Maybe."

"Please? Because I need to pee," she said.

His hand lazily stroked her tummy, his fingers exploring the ridges of her abdominal muscles.

She sighed. "I'm Commander Shepard, and may I please have permission to use the ladies' room?"

He kissed the side of her neck and she felt him smile. "All right."

He undid the omni-cuffs and she rolled out of bed and stretched. She went into the bathroom and automatically started to close the door, but he followed her in. He saw her reflection in the mirror as she raised her eyebrows. "What?" she said.

"Go ahead," he said, smirking. He leaned on the counter.

She frowned. "What, you're gonna watch me?"

"Mm hm."

Reluctantly, she sat down. "I'm not sure I can do it with an audience."

"Take your time."

As it turned out, it wasn't hard. She closed her eyes and pretended she was alone and then sighed with pleasure as she emptied her bladder. Actually, though she didn't say so, she had once had a boyfriend who liked this as well. She supposed it was a way of asserting possession of her. She opened one eye and peeked at Jim sidelong; he was only at about half-mast, which reassured her. Possessiveness, she didn't mind as much.

Automatically the bidet rinsed her with warm water and then dried her with hot air. She stood and raised her arms. "Ta da."

He embraced her. With only a slight hesitation, she put her arms around him too.

"You are beautiful, Lauren," he said.

"Thank you," she said. She supposed she could accept that.

The tip of her left ear peeked out through her damp hair - she'd never liked that - and he nibbled it. Her eyes closed and her lips parted. She did like that.

He nibbled his way gently down to the bottom of her ear and then kissed the side of her neck. Her lips parted a little more and she drew in a quick breath and tilted her head back slightly. She was holding him a little tighter now.

She could feel his hardness pressing against her mons, as if to remind her rather pointedly that he hadn't been inside her yet. Her right hand slid down his back and then gently slipped between them and her fingers began stroking him with a light, almost feathery touch. His cock responded at once, seeming to incline to her touch as if to a magnet.

There was a bit of wetness at the tip and her fingers were soon sticky with it, but she ignored that. She flattened her hand and pressed his length firmly against herself with her palm, grinding her body slightly. He had kissed his way down to the spot between her neck and shoulder, where she was especially sensitive. She could feel his warm breath coming faster and more roughly on her skin.

Her fingers closed around his cock, gripping tightly - he was very hard, so she figured it was past the time to be delicate. "Fuck, you're big," she said softly; her tone of grudging admiration was only partly a performance. She would have liked to use two hands, but she was afraid to break their embrace.

She began pumping him up and down, slowly at first, then faster. By now the head of his cock was glazed with pre-cum; soon her hand was slick with it and she could hear the wet motion of her skin on his. Now and then she made a ring with her thumb and one finger and squeezed hard. Each time she did, she felt him shudder, and once he moaned - his mouth was pressed against the skin of her neck and she felt it as much as heard it. It wouldn't be long now.

"Come for me," she whispered in his ear. She was a quick study at talking dirty, she thought with a certain wry pride. "I'm Commander Shepard - " her tongue flicked his ear - "and that's an order. Come all over my tummy. Let it out."

He went rigid all over, and then he did. His left arm was around the small of her back and it pressed her against him hard, so that her knuckles dug into the hard plane of muscle below his stomach. A thick warm jet of semen struck her lower belly, then another, and another. If anything, there was even more than when she had gone down on him. She kept stroking and squeezing him all the way through it, whispering encouragement to him, trying to get as much as possible. Better on me than in me, she thought. Still, her skin was flushed and sweaty and she was breathing quickly and she realized her vaginal muscles were constricting and releasing slightly, in time with the motions of her hand.

He held her tight, her chin resting on his shoulder, and she could feel all the little physical reactions that went with his climax: his heels lifted slightly off the floor; his head tilted back; his right arm squeezed her upper body and flattened her small breasts against his chest. His breath, which had stopped, was released in a long rasping groan of pleasure, and he trembled slightly all over. Slowly he loosened his embrace. She continued to hold him; she doubted he could stand up on his own. She felt a hint of smug satisfaction at the thought. It was offset by a vague sense of...unfulfillment, she realized.

He rested his cheek against hers for a moment and then kissed her on her mouth. She kissed back. His hand gently stroked the back of her neck until she opened her mouth and allowed his tongue inside. As she did, she felt him begin to stir against her yet again, though to her relief - mostly - it was only a small movement.

When the kiss ended she said, "I'd like a shower."

He said, "Nope. A bath."

She opened her mouth to object, but then closed it again. She was annoyed at the casual way he overrode her, but she had to admit a bath sounded lovely. Even if - "I suppose you want to help," she said.

He kissed her again, briefly. "Mm hm."

"And I'm guessing some parts of me are gonna be cleaner than others," she said.

"You're getting the idea," he said.

He released her. Their bodies were lightly stuck together by sweat and cum, though most of his seed had ended up smeared on her; she could feel it cooling and drying on her tummy and trickling through her landing strip, as if determined to find its way inside her. Her right hand was sticky with it; she wiped it on her thigh, which only made her thigh sticky as well.

He caught her wrist and slowly lifted her hand, as if to kiss it. For an instant, she thought she heard the whine of an actuator, as if her arm objected to being moved by someone else, and she had a vision of it as a hopelessly complex assembly of titanium foam bones and elastisteel muscles intertwined with glowing bundles of tachyonic nerve cables. She watched, as if hypnotized, as he raised her hand to her mouth; one of her wet fingers brushed her lips, and the brief vision was gone.

"Wha - " she said. But she was getting better at following his thinking. Her face twisted in a satiric look. "Dream on." Making her go down on him was one thing, but -

"Nope."

Their eyes met. She tried to pull her hand away, though not very hard, and he held fast. "You just came all over me," she said. "Give me a break."

"Nope." There was a hint of a smile in his voice, but none in his face.

Her eyes flicked away from his as she thought about it. She didn't think he would release the tape if she refused; after all, he was getting what he really wanted. On the other hand, he might take his revenge on her the next time she was tied up (and needing to cum, added a tiny voice in her mind.) And was this really worth pushing him over? Better to choose her battles, she decided.

So she said, "Fine," and sucked her fingers clean. She was careful to get every drop; if she missed any, he would just point it out to her, and she didn't want to give him the opportunity. She showed him her hand, both sides, fingers spread; they were now free of cum, though still wet and slightly sticky. "Happy?"

"Almost." He reached down and ran his first two fingers slowly up the edges of her slit...around her clit...then through the gooey mess that matted her landing strip. She knew what was next even as he said softly in her ear, "Close your eyes." She let out a sigh and closed her eyes and parted her lips. He pressed the tips of his fingers firmly into her mouth and she silently licked and sucked his seed from them. Somehow, she knew not to open her eyes until she was told; he brought his fingers from her tummy to her mouth again and again, until she had swallowed every trace of his release.

*

He got in the bathtub first and lay back; the bathtub wall molded itself to his body. She got in and lay back on top of him, resting her head on his shoulder. The water came up to her neck and the bubbles to her chin. She had turned the temperature up as hot as she could stand and he hadn't objected. She couldn't remember the last time she had had a hot bath. 

To her relief, he seemed content to relax. His arms slipped around her middle and held her, but he did no more than that. The bubble bath smelled like jasmine. The bathroom was lit only by several candles spaced around the oval bathtub rim. Warmth and tiredness made her drowsy; her green eyes lost their focus and her eyelids drifted closed.


End file.
